The French director and choreographer, husband of Natalie Portman, Benjamin Millepied staged a modern adaptation of Romeo and Juliet on the stage of the Paris musical complex La Seine Musicale.

The roles of the classical couple are also performed by male dancers.

The playbill on the website of the play says that the unique version of the performance mixes different types of art - choreography, cinema and theater, and the appearance of different actors, the mixing of genres and the music of the Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev make it "a celebration of love in all its manifestations." 

The actors who got the main roles believe that the same-sex performance of traditionally heterosexual characters should not surprise the audience.

The director himself, in an interview with Movs.World, said that his show reflects the phenomena in society that he encounters daily as part of his project.

Every evening for ten days, viewers will be able to watch variations of different couples: man-woman, man-man and woman-woman.

The show is also accompanied by visual effects and is a highly cinematic version of the ballet.

The operator shoots the dancers from a close distance, so you can watch them on the big screen. 

Not everyone appreciated the director's idea.

“Overall, while the quality of the show, as well as its originality and interpretation, are impeccable, too many scenes take place entirely on screen.

It’s a pity, ”writes the critic of the Sortir Paris portal.

Social media users also reacted ambiguously to Millepied's production.

Many were not satisfied that the director encroached on a work of world literature.

In addition, according to bloggers, the ballet turned out to be "miserable", and Shakespeare "turned over in his grave."

“Instead of creating his own story that would showcase his talent, Benjamin Millepied chose to do away with Shakespeare's masterpiece,” reads one comment.

“Shame on Benjamin Millepied.

How can you be such a good choreographer and dare to put on such a pathetic ballet, a disgrace!” wrote another user.

Millepied is not the first director to take this approach to interpreting a classic tragedy.

In 2017, at the British Everymen Playhouse in Liverpool, director Nick Bagnell also presented a version of Romeo and Juliet with Juliet transformed into Julius.

Under the influence of the LGBT community, the characters of works familiar from childhood have more than once turned out to be openly homosexuals in the West - as happened with Lefou in Beauty and the Beast in 2017 (directed by Bill Condon), or just by chance do not become so.

An example is the story of Velma from the Scooby-Doo franchise.

And in the new Universal film "The Friends" directed by Nicholas Stoller, the cast of "historical significance" is recruited exclusively from representatives of the LGBT community.

They also play all heterosexual characters.